Of Snakes and Unforgivables
by MidnightThief15
Summary: Harry's parents joined Voldemort when Harry was just a baby. Neville became the Boy Who Lived and Harry became the son of Death Eaters and a Slytherin. And, as it turns out, Harry has some secrets so surprising, they will shock the wizarding world. HIATUS
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Lily and James Potter sat side-by-side on their maroon-colored sofa in their living room, waiting. Their one and only child, Harry, was upstairs, sleeping soundly in his crib.

James held Lily's shaking hand in his, and she looked over at him lovingly, grateful. They were both nervous, with good reason, mind you.

The Dark Lord was expected to be arriving soon.

The couple had agreed to join Lord Voldemort, mainly out of fear. They had heard of what had happened to those who refused the Dark Lord, and they couldn't risk it, not with their son upstairs. They had heart that when the Dark Lord killed a family, he killed _all_ of the family, not even sparing the children, and the Potters could not, would not, take the chance. They couldn't afford to. They had vowed that they would do whatever it took to keep their son safe, even if it meant selling their very souls, they would do it.

Suddenly, the two heard the familiar crackles of apparation and instantly stood up to find the Dark Lord himself standing in their living room, dressed in his black robes. Two of his masked and unknown Death Eaters were behind him on either side.

The couple instantly bowed their heads to him, but both had very different reasons in doing so. James bowed his head in order to show respect—he certainly didn't want to disrespect the Dark Lord or anger him—and Lily just couldn't bear to look into the eyes of a cold-blooded, heartless murderer.

"My Lord," the Potters said.

James looked up first and saw the Dark Lord nod his head in greeting. James gestured to a large, plush, comfy armchair and said, "Please, my Lord, won't you have a seat?"

"Very well," Lord Voldemort said. He nodded slightly to each of his masked bodyguards and sat down, while the Death Eaters remained standing. They stood side-by-side behind the armchair that their Lord sat in, their hands in their pockets, wary, in case they needed to pull out their wands if anything happened.

James and Lily sat back down as well. The silence in the room that ensued soon afterwards was uncomfortable enough to drive Lily insane as she stared at her hands in her lap. Thankfully—or perhaps unthankfully—for her, Lord Voldemort broke the silence.

"So, you two have agreed to join me, have you?" His voice chilled Lily to the bone.

"Yes, my Lord, if you'll still allow us to join you." James said ever-so-politely. Lily didn't know how he could do it, how he could just calmly sit there and show respect and be polite to such a monster, when he deserved neither politeness nor respect.

"Of course," Lord Voldemort said. "You two are very promising with your skills and use of the wand. You would greatly benefit from joining me as well as my Death Eaters would of your joining."

Lily was a little surprised. The Dark Lord was much more civil than she thought he was, but then again, he wasn't killing them right now and he was trying to get them to join him, so of course he would try and act civil.

"Thank you, my Lord. You flatter us." James said.

"Nonsense," Voldemort replied. "Now, let's get down to business."

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**_I've decided to try my hand at a Harry Potter fanfiction. This is basically about what I would prefer happen if Lily and James had accepted Lord Voldemort's request to join him. I hope you liked the prologue and Chapter 1 will be up shortly, seeing as I have already written it. I just need to type it and put it up now._**

**_I do have a question: Is Voldemort all snake-like because he broke his soul up into the horcruxes, or is he that way because he was "re-born" (or whatever, got his new body since Harry kind of destroyed his old one)? It would be very helpful to know._**

**_Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW!! I would like very much for you to also keep an eye on this and add it to your Story Alert. I promise that it will be good!_**

**_And yes, this IS a dark, Slytherin Harry story, but I will try my best to make it as in character and believable as possible._**

**_Thank you for reading this chapter and this author's note, please come back again. ^__^_**

**_-MidnightThief15_**


	2. Chapter One

**_Thank you to those who reviewed. Here is Chapter One. Just so you know, Neville has become the Boy-Who-Lived, so that means that Voldy is still as we know him in the first book in the real Harry Potter series. He's still kind of believed to be dead or whatever. Now, here you go. Enjoy! ^__^_**

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**Chapter One**

"Now, promise me that you will write to me."

"Yes, mum, I promise."

"And remember, you can't tell anyone anything."

"Yes, mum, I know."

"And make _sure_ that you don't get into too much trouble."

"_Mum_, I'm going to miss the train!"

Lily Potter sighed and looked at her son straight in the eyes as she knelt down on one knee on the ground in front of him. "Alright, alright," she said.

"Mum, you have nothing to worry about." A black-haired, green-eyed eleven-year-old reassured his worried mother.

"Yes, yes, I know. You'll be just fine." She said as she hugged her son. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"I know; me too." Her son said as he hugged her back.

Lily released her son and stood up, placing her hands on his shoulders and inspecting him. "I'm sorry that your father can't be here. He would have very much liked to see you off. We had been waiting for this moment for years and then at the last minute he can't make it." Lily told her son sadly.

Her son shrugged and said, "It's all right, I understand. I'm just glad that business didn't keep you from this as well."

Lily smiled down at her son and told him, "Death itself couldn't have made me miss this."

Her son rolled his eyes, "Mum, you're so weird. You're not making any sense."

Lily sighed and then said, "Yes, well, we'd best get you on that train then." She ushered her son toward an entrance to the train, but before he got on, she stopped him. A train attendant took his belongings away and toward the storage car while she spoke, "And Harry?"

Harry turned around to look at his mother. "Yes?"

"Don't be afraid to make new friends while you're there. I'd like it if you had more friends than just the ones that you have now. And don't forget, never let anyone hold you back or keep you down and always be yourself." Lily paused briefly before saying, "Your father and I love you deeply."

Harry smiled before saying, "I won't forget, and I love you both too." And with that he turned around and walked up the steps in order to get inside the train.

A couple of minutes later, Lily saw Harry stick his head out of a compartment window and wave at her as the train whistled and the conductor called for last-minute boarding's. Lily waved back at her son and called, "Be safe!"

"I will!" Harry told her as the train started moving. "Bye!"

"Good-bye!" he heard his mother shout before the train turned a corner and she was gone from his sight.

Harry sighed and then shut the window. He left the empty compartment in search of the one with his friends in it.

After the twelfth compartment that he checked, he still had no luck in finding his friends, and he was getting very frustrated and annoyed.

This was proving to be much harder a task than it should have been.

When five more compartments proved unsuccessful in his search, Harry Potter was about ready to punch something…or someone.

"Hey, Harry!"

Harry let out a sigh of relief and felt as most of his anger—which had been caused by his frustration and annoyance—went away. He turned around and smiled at his friends as they walked toward him.

"You cannot _imagine_ how glad I am to see you right now." Harry said. "I was about ready to start yelling in frustration when I couldn't find you guys."

Harry's platinum-blonde-haired best friend laughed. "You never were one for patience."

"Patience takes too long and I have no time for it." Harry replied with a smile.

His friend smiled, "My point exactly."

"So what are you guys doing out here?" Harry asked, now curious all of a sudden.

"Come on and find out." His friend replied and then started walking down the corridor, the two big, dark-haired boys following behind him. Harry followed soon after, staying behind the three. He rolled his eyes. His friend always loved to be the leader. Harry's mom had often told him that he'd make a fine leader, but Harry had no urge to be the leader of his group of friends, yet, anyways. He would let his blonde friend maintain that position…for now, at least. If he felt the want to be in charge later on then he wouldn't hesitate to take the position away from his friend, but there was always the possibility that he wouldn't want to be in charge, in which case he wouldn't worry about it. However, the chance of that happening was pretty slim.

And so, for now, Harry just followed along behind his friends, wondering what was going on but remaining silent.

Only a few seconds later found Harry and his three friends in front of a closed compartment door.

"What are we—?" Harry began to ask, but was cut off by his friend.

"You'll see," his friend said and Harry's hands balled into fists briefly before he released them. Harry didn't like to be interrupted when he was speaking, it was a sign of disrespect and it was annoying. If it was anyone else who had cut him off; they would have regretted it. However, since it was Harry's best friend, he let it slide, this time anyways.

He watched as his friend slid the compartment door back and stepped inside, the two bigger boys stepping in right behind him on either side, reminding Harry of bodyguards. Harry was left to just stand behind the three in the corridor and strain himself to see over their shoulders. He was just fine with observing, although he knew that if his neck was like this for very long then it would really hurt.

"You're Neville Longbottom, aren't you?" Harry heard his friend say. He was startled a bit, not expecting the Boy-Who-Lived to be in his year at Hogwarts.

Harry let out a soft sigh as he realized that he would just have to settle for listening to the conversation since he wouldn't be able to see anything. He leaned his back against the wall opposite the compartment door and his three friends and just listened.

"Yes," he heard what he assumed must have been Neville answer from inside the compartment.

"The name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Harry's friend said proudly and confidently.

Harry heard a snicker from somewhere inside the compartment and stifled a groan. Draco didn't like being laughed at, and whoever had snickered at him was going to be forever Draco's enemy now.

"Think my name's funny, do you?" Harry heard Draco ask rather coldly—a rhetorical question, of course. "No need to say your name—red hair, freckles, and hand-me-down clothes? You must be a Weasley." Draco sneered while saying the boy's last name, it was apparent in his voice.

Harry had heard of the Weasleys briefly one time while he was over at the Malfoy Manor. They were purebloods, but blood traitors, whatever that was. Harry assumed that it might have had to do with mingling with muggles or muggle-borns willingly or something like that. And, apparently, the Weasleys' had more children than they could afford.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Harry heard a girl's voice say from inside of the compartment, and he wondered just how many people were in there.

If there was one thing that Draco Malfoy hated more than being laughed at, it was being ordered around—especially by people he deemed below him.

However, instead of rebounding by throwing an insult at the girl—which surprised Harry, because he thought that Draco was going to, since Draco _always_ retaliated with an insult—Draco instead started advising Neville.

"Careful, Longbottom, you don't want to go making friends with the wrong sorts of wizards. I can help you there."

"You can take your offer and shove it up your arse!" came the angry reply from someone other than Neville, so Harry assumed that it must have been that Weasley boy.

Harry's eyes widened and he stepped away from the wall. "Crabbe, Goyle," Harry said hastily as the two big boys turned to look at him, Harry was frantic now, "restrain Draco, hurry." The two big boys heard the distress in Harry's voice and so they did as they were told. The two boys really didn't listen to just Draco, but to Harry as well. They knew enough in their small brains to know that Harry always had their best interest in mind, and so they trusted him.

Goyle and Crabbe wasted no time in grabbing one of Draco's arms each and yanking him—gently, of course—out of the compartment door and down the corridor toward their own compartment. Harry didn't see the look on Draco's face, but he was sure that Draco was glaring daggers at anything and everything, especially _people_ who the three happened to cross by. Crabbe and Goyle actually did a pretty decent job at taking Draco away and not letting him out of their grasps. Harry would have to thank them later, after Draco had cooled down a bit.

Harry turned to look at the people inside of the compartment while the door was still open. He couldn't waste too much time because he had to catch up with the others so that a repeat of earlier wouldn't happen again.

Inside the compartment, all three of the inhabitants were looking at Harry, as he inspected them with blank eyes and an expressionless face.

The Weasley boy did indeed have fiery red hair and freckles, and also a speck of dirt on his nose. He was tall and lanky, even when sitting down. The girl in the compartment's most notable feature was her big, bushy brown hair. She had full brown eyebrows and big brown eyes. Harry's gaze then went over to Neville, who was visibly shorter than the other boy, although he was only sitting down. The boy was only slightly chubby, and it was hardly even noticeable unless one had keen eyes like Harry, even if they _were_ hidden behind glasses. And then Harry's eyes strayed up to Neville's lightning-shaped scar on his forehead which was clearly visible to Harry.

The whole exchange had only lasted a mere few seconds, only giving the others time to look and inspect him as well; no words had time to be exchanged.

Although, now that Harry was done observing, he broke the short silence.

"It's a good thing that we got Draco out when we did, otherwise someone—" here he gave a pointed look to Ron, "—might have ended up with a bloody nose. I usually don't do this, but I'm warning you now not to mess with Draco, unless you're prepared to face the consequences." Harry's voice was filled with authority and confidence, a feat which did not go unnoticed by the three. "And you're welcome."

And with that the door slid closed on its own and Harry turned sharply in the direction that his friends had walked away in and strolled quickly down the corridor, intent on finding his friends.

He hadn't intervened because of the three in the compartment. No, if it had happened at another time, in another place, then Harry would have just stood silently off to the side, watching as Draco did his thing. He usually wouldn't have object with Draco beating someone up—he had a harder punch than he looked like he had—but Harry had stopped the physical fight before it had even started because, in all truths, he _did_ have his friends and his best interest in mind. If there had been a fight, especially this early on, then they would all have been punished. And, as much as Harry liked watching a good fight, he most certainly didn't want to get in trouble this early on, when they hadn't even arrived at the school yet.

And now, thoughts about the three in the compartment and fights aside, Harry was set on finding his friends quickly, so that a repeat of earlier did not occur.

And it didn't, thankfully. Much to Harry's relief, he found his friends rather early on his new, yet old, search and reveled in being able to sit down at last.

The four of them had the compartment to themselves, and they got off talking about all sorts of things. And, before long, they were all changing into their school robes. Soon afterwards, the train came to a stop and the four could see the magnificent castle that was Hogwarts.

They bustled out of the train along with all of its other inhabitants. Once Harry got outside and looked around, he spotted the tallest man he had ever seen before in his life standing off to the side and calling for first years.

Most everyone seemed just as startled and amazed at seeing the giant as Harry was.

The first years followed the giant who had announced himself as Hagrid into boats while the older students went off in another direction went off in another direction.

After the boats that magically maneuvered themselves across the lake with no assistance from anyone had docked, the first years walked through a number of halls and up a few stairwells before reaching their destination.

They had arrived in front of a set of grand double doors that looked to be about as tall as a house. A tall, old woman with wrinkles and grey hair, who wore a witch's hat and had a stern, serious face, was already there when the students arrived. To Harry, she looked like someone not to be trifled with.

She took over for Hagrid, the gameskeeper giant, and led the first years through the massive double doors, which magically opened up for her. Inside was the impressive Great Hall, whose ceiling had been enchanted to look like the night sky as hundreds of candles levitated in the air.

Harry overheard the bushy brown-haired girl that he had seen in the compartment with Neville Longbottom say snobbishly to someone, "It's not real. It's enchanted to look like the night sky. I read all about it in Hogwarts: A History."

Harry rolled his eyes. He too had read Hogwarts: A History—and all of the other course books for that matter as well over the summer. His mom had pestered him about it quite a bit so there was no way that he could have gotten out of reading them. Besides, he actually found them quite interesting. But at least he didn't go around bragging that he had read a course book. How lame was that?

The woman in the witch's hat said a few words after an old, worn-out hat startled most to all of the first years by singing a song about each of the four different houses. After the song, the woman opened up a rolled up piece of parchment and began reading names of the first years one by one.

When a student was called they would walk up to the stool and sit down and the old witch would place the talking hat on his or her head. The hat exchanged a few mumbled words with most o the students that were called up—the hat wasn't loud enough for anyone else to hear so that only the person wearing the hat knew what the hat was saying. And then, when the hat was done conversing with the students, it would shout out the name of one of the four schools—Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin—and that student would walk over and sit down at the cheering table of the house they had been sorted into.

One by one, students went up there and got sorted. Harry observed but didn't really pay too much attention. Crabbe and Goyle had both gotten sorted into Slytherin, but that was no surprise.

"Granger, Hermione." The old witch called. Harry noticed as she walked up that she was the girl who had been sitting in the same compartment as Neville Longbottom. She walked with a confident air about her, but Harry could tell that she was nervous as well.

The hat bellowed, "GRYFFINDOR!" after being on her head for only a minute or two. The bushy brown-haired girl grinned as she hopped off of the stool and went to go sit down at the cheering Gryffindor table. While she was grinning, Harry had noticed that she had rather large front teeth.

"Longbottom, Neville." He was called a few people after Hermione. Harry noticed how everyone, especially the professors, perked up upon hearing Neville's name and stared at him curiously and excitedly, whispering with their friends.

It seemed that the hat had a hard time placing him in a certain house because he was up there with the hat on his head longer than anyone else had been. Finally, it announced, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindors cheered loudly, louder than any of the houses had for the previous students. Two of the Gryffindors—both with the same fiery red hair as Harry had seen on the Weasley boy earlier—were gloating and shouting to the other tables proudly that they got Neville. Harry mentally rolled his eyes.

"Malfoy, Draco."

Draco walked up and sat on the stool haughtily. The hat was placed on his head for not even a second when it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

Draco smirked conceitedly as he got down and walked toward the Slytherin table, still with that same air of haughtiness.

It was a sure thing that Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle would be sorted into Slytherin, there was no doubt about it. Each of them came from a long line of Slytherin purebloods. Purebloods usually had a better chance of getting into Slytherin than other blood types, and having everyone in their family being in Slytherin made their sorting into Slytherin a guarantee.

Now, Harry, on the other hand, was a different matter completely. He doubted whether he would get into Slytherin or not—although he hoped immensely that he would. He would die if he was sorted into any other house. Both of Harry's parents had been Gryffindors and Harry's father actually came from a long line of Gryffindor purebloods. Harry was sometimes a bit embarrassed because he was the son of two Gryffindors. And, if that wasn't bad enough, Harry's mother just _had_ to be a muggle-born, making Harry a half-blood. Harry hated being a half-blood ad he didn't like for others to know that he was—the only people that knew were his closest friends. Harry's mom often had to tell him not to let other people try and make him feel like he was lower than them just because he was a half-blood. However, Harry _did_ feel that half-bloods were inferior to purebloods, and so did not like for anyone to know that little fact. For all anyone knew, he was just another pureblood, and he wouldn't try to correct them any time soon.

"Potter, Harry." Finally Harry was called. It felt like it took forever for him to be called. Harry held his head high and walked up to the stool and sat down; masking his nervousness well and making everyone else think that he knew exactly where he was going to be placed.

On his way to the stool, though, he had noticed how the old headmaster was gazing at him with a weird twinkle in his eyes. The twinkle kind of creeped Harry out. Harry had also noticed that, when his name had been spoken, almost as many people had perked up and looked at him curiously as they had for Neville. The professors and older students especially looked curious.

Harry had thought that something like this might happen. Harry knew that his parents had disappeared from wizard society when he was barely a year old and no one had heard from them since. Some people had assumed the family to be dead. And now here Harry was, the son of the Potter family who had seemed to mysteriously vanish into thin air. There were a good amount of whispers amongst the students, although not quite as much as there had been for Neville.

Harry's insides were a wreck with nervousness, but he made absolutely sure not to show it on the outside. He just wished that the sorting hat would be placed on his head already so that he could be sorted into a house. And he really, really hoped that it say Slytherin.

The old witch held the hat over Harry's head and began lowering it. Before it had even made contact with him, it screamed, "_SLYTHERIN!_" It had been louder than it had been for the others, and Harry had wondered why. However, he didn't worry about that now and was instead very glad and relieved that the hat had not even thought of placing him in another house.

Harry grinned at his friends at the Slytherin table who were cheering loudly for him. He took a seat to Draco's right. None of his friends knew of his insecurities.

Harry glanced back up and saw that the headmaster was looking at him oddly. Maybe it was in confusion. His eyes were still twinkling, and Harry suddenly felt very uncomfortable under his gaze. Thankfully, the headmaster looked away and toward the first year who had just been called up.

Harry could tell that the professors were all shocked, or at the very least, all greatly surprised. Since his parents had been such good people while in school and had both been in Gryffindor, they all probably assumed that he would be in Gryffindor, or any house, really, just not Slytherin. The only professor who wasn't surprised was Snape, whom Harry had met once before during one of his visits to Malfoy Manor. Snape didn't even glance his way.

Harry had heard from his father that Snape and he hadn't exactly been friends during school. Harry figured that Snape probably hated him just because of who his parents were. That was bad. Harry didn't want a professor to hate him because then that professor might be unfair towards him, and he most certainly didn't want that.

A few more names were called before the sorting was over. The Weasley boy, Ronald, got sorted into Gryffindor. Draco had sneered and glared at him the entire time he was being sorted.

After the sorting, the hall quieted as Headmaster Dumbledore gave a welcoming and a couple of warnings. Then, when he was done with his speech, the hall once again burst alive when food magically appeared on every plate in the Great Hall. Harry hadn't realized how hungry he was until a roast turkey was staring him straight in the face and his stomach was growling.

Supper for Harry was full of delicious food, laughter, and the uneasiness at the back of his mind that Headmaster Dumbledore's unnerving twinkling eyes were gazing at him.

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**_Well, what did you think? I hope that you liked it! Yes, Harry is very distrusting and feeling uneasy by Dumbledore. (Just like Voldy probably did in school when he was Tom still.) This chapter came up really fast because I already had it written in my notebook. All I had to do was type it up and then it was ready. I started writing Chapter Two in my notebook, but I can't guarantee that all of the chapters will come up this soon. So, please be patient, and please come back for more when I do upload!! _**

**_Please let me know if I'm moving too fast with anything. Your opinion is always welcome! :)_**

**_PLEASE REVIEW AND I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER!!!! (In the non-creepy or romantic way, of course.) ;)_**

**_Bye-bye for now!! ^___^_**


	3. Chapter Two

**_Hello. ^__^ Thank you to all of you who have reviewed my story so far! And, without further ado, here is chapter two. (Hehe, that rhymed. *clears throat* Anyway, here you go!) :D_**

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**Chapter Two**

The next morning came quickly, much quicker than Harry had expected it to. One thing nice about having your dorm down in the Slytherin dungeons was that there was no sunlight blasting into your eyes and attacking your eyelids to get in. No, Harry awoke to a light bulb in the lamp next to his bed that he had turned on once he had turned off his alarm clock, a muggle contraption that Harry found quite useful.

Harry got dressed in his school robes, tying his Slytherin tie proudly. He was the first one up in the room that he shared with Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. Draco's family had given the school some money so that Draco and his friends could room together. It wasn't like Draco's family didn't have money to spare, though. They were practically swimming in money, they had so much.

Harry quietly left the room, careful not to wake up any of his friends. He made his way out of the common room just as quietly, seeing as how there were only five other people in the common room up this early.

Once out of the portrait hole, Harry walked down the hallways toward the Great Hall, managing to get lost only twice. Not bad, Harry thought to himself.

There weren't very many students in the Great Hall this early in the morning—especially on the first day of school. A few people, scattered here and there, sat at each of the tables, some in groups of friends or by themselves.

Harry sat down by himself at the Slytherin table, and since he was seated so that he was facing the Gryffindor table, Harry could see the bushy-haired girl, Hermione Granger—if he recalled correctly—sitting by herself, a plate full of food that looked as if it hadn't been touched resting in front of her. She was far too busy, though, engrossed in reading her book that the food residing on her plate, just begging to be eaten.

Harry rolled his eyes before food magically appeared before him. Harry helped himself to biscuits, scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes, washing it all down with orange juice. He didn't eat a whole lot of food, though, just enough until he was full. Not like that Weasley boy had done last night at supper. Harry was disgusted just thinking about it. That boy ate like a pig and seemed to have a bottomless stomach, his mouth always being bombarded by food. It was a wonder that he wasn't as big as a walrus by now.

You'd think that a member of a pureblood family, blood traitors or not, would have a bit more manners.

Harry ate slowly, not in any real hurry since he was up so early and still had a lot of time. Over the course of his eating, more people started filing in. Among those people, Harry recognized Neville Longbottom. Harry watched as he nervously sat down across from Hermione, his face now blocked from Harry's view.

Hermione looked up at Neville and instantly smiled at him, easing his nervousness. The Weasley boy was nowhere to be seen, still sleeping most likely.

Right as Harry was standing up, Draco walked into the Great Hall, flanked on either side by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Harry," Draco called loudly, gathering the attention of a few students, including Neville and Hermione, as he sauntered over towards the Slytherin table.

"Hey, guys," Harry greeted.

"Won't you sit with us?" Draco asked.

Harry shook his head. "I already ate." He said. "Besides, I wanted to head up to the library before class starts."

Draco gave him a look, "Whatever for?" Harry was quite sure that Draco was displaying a look of horror. Draco didn't _do_ libraries. _Way_ too many books for his liking, plus he always had to be silent in libraries, which Draco hated. He liked people to notice him and he liked having people's attention on him.

"I need to find these two books, and since the Hogwarts library is supposed to be really big and grand, they _should_ have them." Harry said.

"What books are they?" Draco asked curiously.

Harry looked around them. Everyone else had already gone back to doing their own thing, but Harry couldn't risk it. He turned back to Draco and whispered, "I'll tell you later." Goyle and Crabbe heard it as well.

Harry started walking down the Slytherin table when Crabbe called out to him, "Hope you find them."

Harry turned back and called, "Thanks. I'll see you guys in class."

And with that Harry walked out of the Great Hall, and as he did so, he could feel the gaze of two particular Gryffindors on his back.

**o0o0o0o0o**

Harry spent the next ten minutes rifling through books in the library, searching in the shelves marked under 'D.' He had already found a couple of books that might prove to be of some assistance Now he was searching for some books on another topic that would prove to be quite interesting.

Harry had already gone back to his dorm room and gotten his school bag from where it had been lying on the floor next to his bed. Now he could head straight to class from the library, ultimately saving him time in the long run of things.

"Ah, here it is." Harry said aloud to no one as he pulled a black-bound book from a shelf just barely within his reach, also pulling down its neighboring book as well—another black-bound book. Harry studied the covers of the books front and back, inspecting them carefully before placing them into his bag alongside three other library books that he had found.

His search in the library had been quite successful and Harry hoped that the books would prove to be useful in his quest for knowledge in a few particular subjects.

After deciding that he and everything that he needed for now, Harry checked out his books and started walking to his first class, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, the stern-looking woman Harry had seen on his first day at Hogwarts, the one who did the sorting.

Harry walked along the scarcely filled corridors, taking his time .He figured that he'd be early to class anyways, so there was no need to be in any sort of rush.

When Harry finally did reach the Transfiguration classroom, there were many more people in the corridors. Harry stepped into the classroom and, even though there were more people out and about by now, they must have all been hanging with their friends elsewhere, because there were only three people in the classroom so far when Harry entered, two Gryffindors—one of them he recognized was Hermione Granger, her nose stuck in a book again—and one Slytherin, his head on the desk and most obviously catching up on some last-minute sleep before class started. Harry didn't fail to notice that both of the Gryffindors were on the right side of the classroom and the Slytherin was on the left side. So that must be how things were divided up as.

Nobody looked up as Harry made his way down the middle of the room and took a seat at a desk on the left side of the classroom, sitting two seats in from the aisle in the third row from the front.

Harry took out one of the books that he had gotten from the library and opened it up. He skimmed through the table of contents before flipping a couple of pages and beginning to read.

**o0o0o0o0o**

Hermione had stiffened in her seat slightly when she had seen Harry Potter arrive out of her peripherals. She then heard the rustling of pages of a book a few minutes later.

Hermione turned her head slightly to the side so that she could see more of him while he wasn't looking.

She had to admit her surprise when she saw that Harry was reading a giant book—with undoubtedly more pages than any of their first year textbooks. She couldn't see the title or what it was about, though, because he had it lying on the desk, the cover—both front and back—out of sight. She was still incredibly surprised, though, that a _Slytherin_ was reading a book, let alone one so big. It was amazing enough when a Slytherin read even a chapter or two of their _textbooks_, let alone a book for pure enjoyment that was even _longer_ than a textbook.

Take the other Slytherin boy in the room, for example. He was _sleeping_, like the terrible sloths that they were.

Granted; Hermione didn't know enough about Slytherins to judge them too much—yet—seeing as how the first class hadn't even begun. But she had read enough about each of the houses and had heard enough from her peers and older students what Slytherins were like—and reading such a large book that was not required was a _very_ unusual characteristic of a Slytherin.

Perhaps the hat meant to place him in Ravenclaw instead but then changed its mind, she thought.

Hermione shook her head then at the ridiculous thought. The sorting hat hadn't even _touched_ his head before he was placed into his house. No, he was definitely a Slytherin all the way through by that one event alone, not to mention his attitude when he had spoken to her and her new friends on the train. He clearly thought himself superior to her, and he didn't even know she was a muggle-born.

That's when Harry decided to look up from his book, looking right at her.

Hermione quickly turned her head back to her book, a faint blush spreading its way over her cheeks at being caught staring. How embarrassing! And especially at a Slytherin too! How long had he known that she was watching him?!

She heard people talking and feet shuffling as more students started filing in.

"H-H-H-Hey, Her-Hermione." came a nervous and quiet greeting from behind Hermione and to her left.

Hermione turned around in her seat and saw Neville walk up toward her, his head hanging a little and his eyes downcast. Hermione smiled warmly at him, and said, "Good-morning Neville. Did you sleep well?"

Neville nodded his head, a slight blush growing on his cheeks. "I-Is this seat t-taken?" Neville asked as he placed his hand on the desk space to the left of Hermione.

"Not at all," Hermione said kindly to him, "Please, sit."

Neville placed his book bag on the wooden table beside Hermione and sat down.

Poor Neville, thought Hermione. The boy was so timid and lacking in confidence. She wondered what she could do to possibly help him and his self-esteem. He was the Boy-Who-Lived, after all!

**o0o0o0o0o**

Harry faintly took notice of Neville as he arrived in the classroom. Harry's sharp hearing picked up on all of the words exchanged between the boy-Who-Lived and the bushy-haired Granger girl. And what was his opinion on what he had just heard, you may ask?

Well, it was short, simple, and to the point.

Pathetic, thought Harry.

It was the best word to describe the boy who had supposedly vanquished the Dark Lord when he was merely one year old. _That_ boy sitting over there Harry's far right was the Boy-Who-Lived? What a joke! Harry didn't know how such a powerful wizard such as the Dark Lord could _ever_ have been defeated by such a weak, puny, _stuttering_, pathetic boy such as Neville Longbottom. It was absolutely absurd!

But then again, Neville _did_ have the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead to prove it.

But, honestly, was this for _real_? What a laugh!

Harry suddenly wondered why the Death Eaters—the Dark Lord's followers—didn't finish off Longbottom in these past ten years. After all, they _have_ had plenty of opportunities and time. But who knows? Maybe they all got afraid once the Dark Lord—who was their protection and key to being on the winning side—was gone. Or maybe they just weren't loyal enough to carry out the Dark Lord's dirty work and avenge him when he wasn't there to praise and reward them for it—or to threaten them into doing it.

Harry Potter realized that he might never know the answer, might never know why Neville Longbottom still lives for certain. And you can't possibly imagine how much that annoyed and frustrated Harry, the fact that something is and might forever be out of his reach. Knowledge, after all, was a good deal of what made a wizard powerful. You could never know too much.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts, however, when Draco entered, followed by Crabbe and Goyle, and begun to talk to him once the three had walked over to him.

"Harry," Draco said to get his friend's attention as he sat to Harry's left, Goyle sitting to Draco's left, and Crabbe sitting to Harry's right.

Harry reluctantly looked up at his friend who had a sneer on his face. Harry's own expression was curious. There were a number of things that could make Draco Malfoy sneer, and so Harry had no clue as to what it was this time that cause such a reaction in him.

You won't _believe_ what we just found out." Draco said.

"What?" Harry asked, truthfully only half interested. The other half wanted to get back to reading his book.

"I just found out that there's a Slytherin third-year who's a _mudblood_." Draco sneered the last part harshly.

Draco had managed to catch all of Harry's attention completely with that. Harry could feel his eyes widen. "_What_?" he asked incredulously. "How is that possible? There's hardly ever been a muggle-born in Slytherin since the school was first founded. Everyone knows that Slytherin favors purebloods. Was the sorting hat bonkers when it sorted him?"

"It must have been," Draco agreed. He then shivered and made a disgusted face. "Ugh, I feel dirty just knowing that there's a mudblood in our house."

"It could be worse," Harry said, "he could have been in our year."

Draco shivered again. "I don't even want to think about that. Anyways," he started, looking better now—he briefly turned to Goyle and Crabbe before telling Harry, "Crabbe, Goyle, and I were planning on hexing him. We figured that, because of his blood status, it's a good bet that he doesn't have many friends—if any, you know how Slytherins don't like mudbloods—and that we could gang up on him and take him down. Even if he _is_ a third-year, he couldn't take us all down by himself, and everyone knows that mudbloods aren't as good at magic as the rest of us. I bet I could find some other Slytherins as well who would be more than happy to assist us—we can't be the only ones who feel disgusted by being in the same house as such filth like him." Here Crabbe and Goyle nodded.

Draco continued, "I know how you feel about mudbloods, though, so I thought I'd give you the choice of helping us or not."

Harry appreciated Draco's consideration for his feelings toward muggle-borns. Since he had spent so much time with Draco over the years and the Malfoys, he had picked up a bit of their hatred toward muggle-borns, but Harry's mother was a muggle-born, and he loved her deeply—even if she wasn't of pure blood like his father was. If his parents found out that he had hexed a boy simply because he was a muggle-born, then not only would he be ashamed of himself, but his parents would be as well.

"I'll think about it." Harry told him. "Who is he?"

"Some bloke named Alex McDonald. If you decide to help us—which would be really beneficial for us—then just know that we'll be doing it next Tuesday—a week from tomorrow—at five o'clock in the Slytherin common room. Nobody will rat us out, I'm sure of it. In fact," Draco added with a smirk, "there might even be some cheering."

"Alright, well, I'll let you know before next Tuesday." Harry said before turning back to his book.

Draco made a gagging noise. "You're _reading_?" He asked as if it was the most outrageous thing he had ever heard of in his entire life. "Harry, you're one of my best friends—Crabbe and Goyle being the other two—but you are so _weird_ sometimes."

You have no idea, thought Harry.

"What are you reading, anyways?" Crabbe asked from beside Harry.

Harry quickly got a good look at the page number he was on and—after it was engraved into his memory—he shut the book closed, the cover facing up for all of this friends to see—even Goyle, sitting two seats to the left of Harry.

On the front of the book were words engraved in silver cursive letters, _Secrets of the Dark Arts._

Harry saw Draco's eyes widen. "They seriously had a book like _this_ in the library?" He whispered, just loud enough for only the four of them to hear. Harry nodded his head.

"Wicked cool," Goyle commented.

"What's in the book, exactly"? Draco asked, still whispering.

Harry opened his mouth and was about to tell his friends some of the contents of the book when the professor entered the room from her attached office.

"Later," Harry mouthed before hurriedly stuffing the book back into his school bag beside all of the other library books he had put in there so that no one else—_especially_ the professor—would see the subject of the book.

Harry turned to look up at the professor and mentally groaned when he finally got a good look at the rest of her room, no longer distracted by a book or friends. There were small objects here and there that had red or gold on them, little lion patterns or things like that. Professor McGonagall was the head of Gryffindor. Class with this stern old bat was doomed to be practically considered torture from the very beginning, but her being the head of Gryffindor as well was going to make this class be _so_ much fun.

**o0o0o0o0o**

It was impossible for Hermione _not_ to notice when Draco Malfoy and his posse entered the classroom. His air of superiority was so pungent and foul that it practically choked her.

She peeked back at them as the three sat around Harry, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible so that she wouldn't get caught again.

She listened keenly to what they were saying. Sure, it wasn't nice too eavesdrop, but nobody could really blame her for being curious, could they?

Hermione's eyes widened slightly as she heard Draco Malfoy start talking about a "mudblood." Even though Hermione was born and raised in the muggle world, knowing nothing of magic until just recently, she had read enough to know that mudblood was another—nastier and crueler—name for muggle-born, someone magical born from non-magical parents, which she was. She had also read in _Hogwarts: A History_ that muggle-borns rarely _ever_ got into Slytherin House, and when they did it was quite a rare event.

Hermione found herself feeling sorry for the poor boy, even if he _was_ a Slytherin, and how he was going to pay for something that he had absolutely no control over. It made Hermione immensely glad that she had been placed in Gryffindor, where everyone was so nice and understanding and nobody cared whether you were muggle-born, a half-blood, or a pureblood.

Hermione could barely contain her surprise, though, when she heard Harry talk about the situation using the word _muggle-born_ instead of mudblood. She had heard last night in the Gryffindor common room that pretty much _all_ Slytherins hated muggle-borns fiercely, seeing as how it was Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin House, who wanted Hogwarts not to allow any muggle-borns in, believing them to be inferior. And so she was surprised when a Slytherin had had enough respect to say muggle-born instead of mudblood.

When Hermione heard Draco's plan to hex the poor Slytherin third-year, her jaw clenched and her stomach tightened. How despicable Slytherins were! However, she had never been more confused before in her life when Draco suggested that Harry felt something different toward muggle-borns than absolute and unreasonable loathing, like Draco undoubtedly did. What could it possibly be? It drove Hermione mad not knowing something.

Hermione heard Draco's reply when he noticed that his friend was reading and just had to roll her eyes. It figures that someone like him would be illiterate. And then the four Slytherins started whispering and Hermione could no longer hear what they were saying.

It didn't matter, anyways, because Professor McGonagall entered soon after and class began.

**o0o0o0o0o**

The Transfiguration class was just in the middle of writing down notes when the door to the classroom burst open and in ran Ron Weasley, his face pink from running. He was out of breath and sighed in relief when he didn't' see the teacher anywhere. He quickly spotted Neville and Hermione and sat down in an empty seat beside Neville.

"Made it," Ron breathed to Neville and Hermione. "Good thing McGonagall isn't here or else I'd be in trouble."

That's when a gray-striped cat, which had previously been sitting on the professor's desk, watching the class, jumped from the desk, morphing in mid-air into Professor McGonagall who promptly gave Ron a very stern look.

"So good of you to join us, Mr. Weasley." She said, "I was beginning to feel you weren't coming."

"Sorry, Professor," Ron apologized, his ears turning red in embarrassment, "I got lost."

"A map then, perhaps, next time?"

Ron nodded and took out his quill, a bottle of ink, and some parchment from his bag, the professor finally turning her scrutinizing gaze away from Ron and surveying the rest of the class, her hands together behind her back.

As Ron whispered to Neville, asking what they were doing, Hermione rolled her eyes. Late on the first day of class. It was a good thing that the Transfiguration professor was the head of Gryffindor, or else she probably would have deducted house points for tardiness and disrupting the class.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the classroom, Draco had smirked when the professor had been scolding Weasley on being late. It's only too bad that she hadn't deducted any house points from Gryffindor.

* * *

**_So...what did you think?? I'm trying to make the characters (other than Harry) as alike to the real ones in the books as possible, including making Neville a low-confidence stutterer. I'm also having a hard time with Crabbe and Goyle. I want them to be both seen AND heard, just not heard quite that much. I hope I did alright with them in what little they do actually say. I actually wrote this a while ago, but didn't have it finished. Then, last night (or this morning, whatever) I couldn't sleep at 2 AM, so I got it finished and here it is...or was... ^__^_**

**_I am currently contemplating on whether or not to let you guys know a very big secret of Harry's soon (like in the next chapter) or later...hm...well, I've got time to think about it._**

**_I tried to put in views from both Harry AND Hermione, so you can sort of hear thoughts and stuff from someone other than Harry, SORT OF, because it's not in character point of view for anyone._**

**_Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review! _**

**_P.S. And just so you know, this is way longer when it's written out on paper, which is what I'm doing with this story, I'm writing it all on paper and then typing it. So do NOT say that the chapters need to be longer! If I feel that it needs to be longer, then I will make it longer. If I feel that it ends perfectly in a certain spot but doing so will make it shorter, than I will doo what I think is right._**

**_Love you all!!!!_**

**_-MidnightThief15 XD_**


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